At the moment I am a master juggler. It's true, I have so many balls in the air and so far all of them are still in the air. But, not for long, I fear, as something will inevitably fall.

Last week I tweeted that I had submitted a job application ten days early, but what I didn't say is that I wanted to ensure that it wasn't a ball that fell. That application is important - really important. Doing it early meant I could give it the time and love it deserved. Like the article I submitted a few days later. The article is still out, but the notice that I'd not been shortlisted for the job came this morning.*

But now I am starting to feel the overwhelming enormity of all the things - a sample:

My application for Fellowship of the HEA, this needs to be finished this week so it can go to my referees, and that can all come back before it needs to be submitted (while I am away).

My ERC Starting Grant application, which is very unlikely to be successful because of all the Brexit rubbish, but which needs to be finished at any rate.

My Hades book. Enough said.

Another job application, which needs tailoring, mainly (that is, the part that is both the most emotional and most time consuming).

My Underworld gods book.

My paper for That Other Crowd, which starts the day after I get back from Greece.

*Let's talk about rejection for a moment: it happens to all of us, there are job rejections, and papers that get turned down, and articles that you eventually retire into the 'Come Back to this Later' folder (last opened the day after you created it). I won't lie about this - I am really gutted that I wasn't shortlisted for this job, but I also know that I did everything I could do to make my application strong. And I have to remember that I'm a pretty strong candidate for my career stage, realistically. I shouldn't be surprised, because this job was probably two steps up from where I am now. So there you go - I won't be leaving Leicester yet (which, in itself, makes me quite happy!).

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